BJP MLC Sagar Meghe submits resignation to Mah CM

Nagpur, Aug 23 (UNI) BJP member of Legislative Council Sagar Meghe has submitted his resignation from the party and the Upper House to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

In a release here today, Mr Meghe said he had taken the step to prevent mental agony to his father, Datta Meghe, former MP, once very close to Sharad Pawar, who recently quit the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and joined the Congress.

''My father went through a lot of mental agony after I joined the BJP. I do not want him to go through the torture again now that he is in the Congress. I, therefore, want to quit the BJP and the Legislative Council,'' he said.

''I have quit on my own accord, without consulting my father. I did not discuss the issue with anyone, as I was apprehensive that they would dissuade me from quitting. I wrote my resignation letters in Mumbai yesterday and handed them over to Mr Deshmukh yesterday. I want the Chief Minister to forward this to Legislative Council Chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh and BJP Maharashtra unit chief Nitin Gadkari,'' Mr Meghe said, adding, ''I now want to concentrate full time on the institutions that our family runs.'' He said he had not joined any political party, and that he would follow the instructions of his father.

Mr Sagar Meghe had sent ripples in political circles in Maharashtra when he joined the BJP some years ago while his father was in the NCP. Immediately after he joined the BJP, the party fielded him for an election to the Upper House from Nagpur district local self-government authorities constituency. He won with a thumping margin.

There was speculation that the Meghe Jr might quit the BJP after his father fell out with the NCP top brass. The Meghe Sr, whose term in the Rajya Sabha ended recently, was denied a second term, paving the way for his resignation from the NCP.